Dr David M. Malone

Rector of the United Nations University; Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations

Prior to joining the United Nations University on 1 March 2013, Dr David Malone served (2008–2013) as President of Canada’s International Development Research Centre, a funding agency supporting policy-relevant research in the developing world.

Dr Malone had earlier served as Canada’s Representative to the UN Economic and Social Council and as Ambassador to the United Nations (1990–1994); as Director General of the Policy, International Organizations and Global Issues Bureaus within Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT, 1994–1998); and as President of the International Peace Academy (now International Peace Institute), a New York-based independent research and policy development institution (1998–2004). He oversaw Canada’s economic and multilateral diplomacy within DFAIT (2004–2006) and served as Canada’s High Commissioner to India and non-resident Ambassador to Bhutan and Nepal (2006–2008).

Dr Malone also has held research posts in the Economic Studies Program, Brookings Institution; Massey College, University of Toronto; and Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University. He has been a Guest Scholar and Adjunct Professor at Columbia University, and an Adjunct Professor at the New York University School of Law, where he is currently a Senior Fellow.

He holds a degree from l’École des Hautes Études Commerciales (Montreal); studied at the American University of Cairo; holds an MPA from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government; and earned a DPhil in International Relations from Oxford University.

Dr Malone has published extensively, in both academic and lighter veins. His latest books are The UN Security Council in the 21st Century (as co-editor; 2015, Lynne Rienner Publishers) and the second edition of Law and Practice of the United Nations (co-authored graduate textbook; 2016; Oxford University Press).

In summer 2017, Dr Malone was reappointed for a second term as UNU Rector (2018–2023).